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Oliver Jones

'Crocodiles around us' - Leeds United and rivals on the latest relegation scrap twists and turns

Leeds United are not the only team stuck in the middle of the Premier League's most vicious relegation battle in recent years.

With the bottom eight covered by just 11 points with seven points, it's still possible for any of them to go down by the end of the season although some are clearly in a worse situation than others.

So here's what every manager threatened by relegation had to say ahead of this weekend's action...

READ MORE: Leeds United dressing room's unacceptable actions must now face the music and accept its critics

Wolves - 13th

What Julen Lopetegui said (April 20): "We are not safe. We are fighting. We have to take a lot of points ahead of us, a lot of teams, so we have to be ready to get these points. It’s one step more. We have to get more steps because to achieve our aim we have to get to the end with more points in front of us.

"We are in the middle of the river (in terms of survival). We have a lot of crocodiles around us. You achieve your aim when you’ve achieved it. We have a lot of points in front of us. It’s not enough yet.

"You know the Premier League, you can win two matches, you can win against any team, you can lose against any team. This is the Premier League, so we have to be ready for the work we have to do in the future. We are happy, of course, but we are thinking of the next one."

Bournemouth - 14th

What Gary O'Neil said (April 20): "I’m just trying to win the next game. Whether it’s three on the trot or not, it doesn’t make any difference. We need more points, definitely, 33 is not going to be enough.

"The focus hasn’t changed, it hasn’t switched. We understand that we’re still in a scrap to make sure that we’re in this division next season.

"So this week is going to be a big one for us. It starts on Sunday where three points would give us another step towards us achieving what we set out to."

West Ham - 15th

What David Moyes said (April 20): "All of the good teams get into good form at this time of the year because they have to. Because they have to win things, or because they have to reach finals.

"So I hope we can be one of those, get some form together and keep improving. We have to keep scoring more goals."

Leeds United - 16th

What Javi Gracia said (April 20): "What I've seen is all my players really disappointed after the last game we played. They have the desire to change, the desire to perform better and to look forward to the next game hoping to show a better face.

"In this moment, I think it's not to speak, it's time to do. And we have to show what we're able to do. If you tell me all these things, I'll agree with you. But we only can do and this way, we'll come back the way we played before."

Everton - 17th

What Sean Dyche said (April 20): "I think I’m on about week 11 so it is difficult to completely change two years, maybe more than that, of mentality. But the work is in progress, I can assure you.

"There is constant work with the team on the training ground, a constant re-affirming of why we win games away, how we win games - taking on the challenge.

"The noise has been long enough now that people say: 'They can't do this away, they can't do that away.' So let's change that story. It's only us that can change it. You can't wait for some magic dust to change it, it's down to us as a collective force to make it happen."

Nottingham Forest - 18th

What Steve Cooper said (April 20): "Teams have even gone on difficult runs this season and have ended up turning it around, going on good runs. When you are in the bottom half, it is quite common you have a run like the one we are on now. The key is to stop it and to come out of it, and that is what we are trying to do.

"But that is down to us. It is down to hard work, belief and making it happen. We can’t wait for it to happen, we have to make it happen. We are doing everything we can for that to be the case."

Leicester City - 19th

What Dean Smith said (April 20): "We can’t play with any fear. We’ve looked at the quality we have on the training ground, we haven’t brought that onto the pitch over the last eight or nine games.

"The games which are coming up – we can only look at Wolves to start with. Our results at home haven’t been where they should be."

Southampton - 20th

What Ruben Selles said (April 20): "I think it has been desperate from the very first second, the only thing is we are running out of time and the games are less and less. We put some good performances on but we didn't transform those into points.

"Hopefully we can change the wheel and then start to get some points and put them together with some good performances."

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